Don Bosco Fambul recently launched a therapeutic centre with four large buildings, a clinic, accommodation for volunteers and social workers, a house for the Salesian community, and a chapel. Though its inauguration was postponed due to coronavirus, the centre remains a safe and virus-free place where Salesians have already welcomed many minors in need. An agreement against domestic and sexual violence against girls was signed between Don Bosco Fambul and national agencies for the protection of children in the fight against violence and child abuse. Police agencies, lawyers and child protection agencies are collaborating with Don Bosco Fambul in the fight to protect children.
Meanwhile, the Don Bosco Fambul clinic will issue forensic reports on abused minors arriving at the centre, while police will in turn be able to conduct early investigations and arrest perpetrators. Salesian missionaries have been serving in Sierra Leone since 2001 when they began working to rehabilitate former child soldiers through Don Bosco Fambul. In the years since, Don Bosco Fambul has been offering food, clothing, crisis intervention services, shelter, educational opportunities, long-term counseling and family reunification to youngsters.
Young people face significant challenges in accessing education. With few teachers, and school buildings destroyed in the war, resources are thin. Persistently high illiteracy rates mean that an estimated 70 percent of Sierra Leone’s youth are unemployed or underemployed. Don Bosco Fambul is one of the country’s leading child-welfare organisations, and has been on the forefront of efforts to help save young women who have experienced abuse and prostitution and rehabilitating street children and reuniting them with their families.
The organisation is directed by Salesian Father Jorge Mario Crisafulli and has a staff of 120, including Salesian social workers who go out to the streets, slums and marketplaces to engage vulnerable youths and encourage them to join the successful Don Bosco Fambul program.
By Ophaniel Gooding